Class 8 truck sales up in June, but still behind 2012

The International nameplate showed the biggest increase from May to June, selling 2,225 trucks in June compared with 1,938 in May, a 14.8 percent increase. Shown here in the LoneStar. (Courtesy: NAVISTAR)

The Trucker News Services

7/15/2013

A review of June’s Class 8 truck sales indicates there’s a little light at the end of the tunnel.

The only problem is that light may be an oncoming train that could crush any hopes the industry might have for an increase in sales over 2012.

Or for that matter, even a status quo number.

According to Ward’s Automotive, 15,929 Class 8 trucks were sold in the United States in June, and while that represents a 3 percent increase over the previous month, it was an 8.9 decrease from the same month last year.

And, the total 2013 sales of 85,840 through the first six months is a 13.5 percent decrease from the first six months of 2012.

What’s more, since 50 percent of the 2012 sales occurred in the last six months of the year, a repeat of that performance in 2013 would put the total sales just above the 172,000 mark, or about an 11 percent drop from 2012.

The International nameplate showed the biggest increase from May to June this year, selling 2,225 trucks in June compared with 1,938 in May, a 14.8 percent increase, followed by Freightliner, which had a 12.5 percent increase with sales of 5,950 in June compared with 5,291 in May.